Intelligent prevention of spam emails at share sites

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented method for preventing spam emails from a share site includes providing a network-based computer system to enable users to set up share sites and to send emails from the share sites, detecting potential spam emails based on one or more spam detection rules, identifying false positive emails in the potential spam emails based on one or more false alarm reduction rules, removing false positive emails from the potential spam emails to produce a list of verified spam emails, identifying a sender of the list of verified spam emails as a spammer, and prohibiting the spammer from sending emails from one or more share sites owned spammer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Web-based service providers such as Shutterfly, Inc. provide share sitesfor users to share their photos, videos, and remarks. To register, auser is only required to provide an email address and a password. Theuser is then allowed to set up share sites. The owner of a share sitecan send emails to invite people to become members of the share site, orannounce publication of new content at the share site. These featuresare usually free of charge.

Unfortunately, the share sites have been used increasingly as a platformby spammer to send spam emails. A spammer signs up at the serviceprovider and sets up a share site, and then uses the email service ofthe share site to send spam messages. The spammer usually does notupload or publish content at the share site because it is not required.

The spam emails have caused significant negative impact on the servicesof the share sites and the associated web-based service providers. Theemail spamming from share sites have alienated users to such a degreethat some users have opted out of email communications from theshare-site service providers such as Shutterfly, Inc. The handling ofcustomer complaints about email spamming and the removals of spammers'account waste much resources of the service provider's customer service.

Email providers such as Google and Yahoo often use semantic-based spamfilters to remove spam emails received in users' email accounts.Although this type of anti-spam techniques may be suitable for spamemails received over the Internet, they often cannot provide the mostaccurate spam prevention for share sites. There is a need forsuppressing spam emails at share site with high detection accuracy andlow rate of false alarms.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the present application relates to a method for acomputer-implemented method for preventing spam emails from a sharesite. The method includes providing a network-based computer system toenable users to set up share sites and to send emails from the sharesites; storing one or more spam detection rules in the network-basedcomputer system; detecting potential spam emails based on the one ormore spam detection rules; storing one or more false alarm reductionrules in the network-based computer system; identifying false positiveemails in the potential spam emails based on the one or more false alarmreduction rules; removing false positive emails from the potential spamemails to produce a list of verified spam emails; identifying a senderof the list of verified spam emails as a spammer; and prohibiting thespammer from sending emails from one or more share sites owned spammer.

Implementations of the system may include one or more of the following.The step of detecting potential spam emails based on the one or morespam detection rules can include detecting email messages havingsubstantially identical content. The step of detecting potential spamemails based on the one or more spam detection rules can includedetermining if the substantially identical content in the email messagescontain more a predetermined number of words. The step of detectingpotential spam emails based on the one or more spam detection rules caninclude determining if the email messages having substantially identicalcontent are sent from different share site. The step of detectingpotential spam emails based on the one or more spam detection rules caninclude determining if the email messages having substantially identicalcontent exceed a predetermined number. The network-based computer systemcan include a plurality of servers, wherein the step of detectingpotential spam emails based on the one or more spam detection rules caninclude detecting email messages having substantially identical contentat two or more of the plurality of servers. The step of identifyingfalse positive emails in the potential spam emails based on the one ormore false alarm reduction rules can include automatically detectingbehaviors of a sender of the potential spam emails at the share site.The step of identifying false positive emails in the potential spamemails based on the one or more false alarm reduction rules can includedetermining if the sender of the potential spam emails has uploadedimages to the network-based computer system. The step of identifyingfalse positive emails in the potential spam emails based on the one ormore false alarm reduction rules can include determining if the senderof the potential spam emails has ordered products or services from thenetwork-based computer system. The computer-implemented method canfurther include allowing the users, by the network-based computersystem, to publish text, images, videos, or designs at the share sites.

In another aspect, the present application relates to a network-basedcomputer system for facilitating share sites comprising: one or moreservers that can enable users to set up share sites and to send emailsfrom the share sites; a spam intelligence module that can store one ormore spam detection rules and to detect potential spam emails based onthe one or more spam detection rules, wherein the spam intelligencemodule configured to store one or more false alarm reduction rules andto identify false positive emails in the potential spam emails based onthe one or more false alarm reduction rules, wherein the false positiveemails are removed from the potential spam emails to produce a list ofverified spam emails; and a spam control module that can identify asender of the list of verified spam emails as a spammer and to prohibitthe spammer from sending emails from one or more share sites ownedspammer.

Implementations of the system may include one or more of the following.The spam intelligence module can detect email messages havingsubstantially identical content to detect potential spam emails. Thespam intelligence module can detect potential spam emails by determiningif the substantially identical content in the email messages containmore a predetermined number of words. The spam intelligence module candetect potential spam emails by determining if the email messages havingsubstantially identical content are sent from different share site. Thespam intelligence module can detect potential spam emails by determiningif the email messages having substantially identical content exceed apredetermined number. The spam intelligence module can detect potentialspam emails by detecting email messages having substantially identicalcontent at two or more of the servers. The spam intelligence module canidentify false positive emails by automatically detecting behaviors of asender of the potential spam emails at the share site. The spamintelligence module can identify false positive emails by determining ifthe sender of the potential spam emails has uploaded images to thenetwork-based computer system. The spam intelligence module can identifyfalse positive emails by determining if the sender of the potential spamemails has ordered products or services from the network-based computersystem. The one or more servers can enable the users to publish text,images, videos, or designs at the share sites.

Embodiments may include one or more of the following advantages. Thedisclosed system and methods significantly improve user experience atshare sites by reducing or eliminating email spams. The disclosed spamprevention measures can be implemented automatically, thus saving laborand cost. The disclosed system and methods can reduce resources wastedby service providers on manually handling spam emails. The disclosedsystem and methods also have minimal false positives, thus minimizingimpact on legitimate users.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for a share-site management system inaccordance to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for an authentication module compatible withthe share-site management system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for applications compatible with theshare-site management system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplified user interface user access controlcompatible with the authentication module of FIG. 2.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show exemplified user interfaces for share-site managementcompatible with the share-site management system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for intelligently preventing spam emails at sharesites in accordance to the present invention.

Although the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to multiple embodiments, it will be understood by personsskilled in the relevant art that various changes in form and details canbe made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A network-based computer system 100, as shown in FIG. 1, includes ashare-site management system 110 that communicates with users such as amanager 111, contributors 112, and viewers 113 via applications 120. Theshare-site management system 110 includes an authentication module 130,a spam intelligence module 135, a share-site module 140, share-sitestorage 150, and servers 160 for communicating with applications 120over a computer network. The authentication module 130 further includes,as shown in FIG. 2, an application authentication module 131, a userauthentication module 132, and a user access-control module 133.

Users of the share-site management system 110 can have different rolessuch as manager 111 who is the owner and administrator of the sharesite, contributors 112, and viewers 113. Users communicate with theshare-site management system 110 via applications 120, which can publishcontent at the share site from the share-site management system 110 onusers' display devices. Examples of content at the web site includetext, images, videos, and designs. The applications 120, as shown inFIG. 3, can be implemented in different forms and on differentplatforms. Applications 120 include web browser and device applications123 installed on devices such as smart phones, tablet computers, etc.,which allow users to access the share sites. Applications 120 can alsoinclude electronic message application 121 such as Yahoo mail, gmail,hotmail etc., short messages (SMS), and texting, etc. for the viewers113 to receive messages from the share-site manager 111 aboutregistration and updated content. In the present application, the term“email” is used to represent different forms of electronic messages.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the user authentication module 132authenticates users, and send them user tokens after authentication.Contributors 112 can send digital images and text to the share-sitemanagement system 110, which are stored in the share-site storage 150.The manager 111 has the right to organize, edit, design layout for theimage, video, and text information of his own or from the contributorsfor publishing at the share site.

The user access-control module 133 (FIG. 2) allows the manager 111 todefine the roles of the users for the share site. For example, referringto FIG. 4, a share site can be set up for a soccer team “AYSO U12 BoyArsenal”, which includes thirty members, and which is managed by asoccer dad Chris. The user access-control module 133 can support a userinterface 400 to show Chris a list of users such as user 1, user 2 . . ., and user 30 in the share-site user group, and allow Chris to definethe roles of each user. For example, user 1 can be Chris himself who isa manager, is allowed to edit, contribute to, and view the text, images,videos, and designs at the share site. User 2 can be another soccerparent named Saleem who has editing rights. The user 2 is also acontributor of content to the share site. Similarly, user 10 is acontributor. Users 11-30 are viewers who are authorized to view contentpresented for Team Arsenal, but are not contributors or editors. Thecontributed content from the contributing users are stored in theshare-site storage 150.

The share-site module 140 (FIG. 1) allows the manager 111 (i.e. theadministrator) to manage the distribution of share-site content to agroup of users. The manager 111 can flexibly assemble content, using auser interface 500 shown in FIG. 5, from different contributors intodifferent Blogs, each of which may be about a specific event such as asoccer game or a team party. For example, Blog A can include picturesand video clips taken at a specific game played by Team Arsenal againstanother team Tsunami, which include video clips from user 1 (v10-v14),user 2 (v5-v8), user 8 (v1-v2), and user 10 (v6), and images andcomments from different users. The manager can review and edit thecontent, and add captions and other information (e.g. names fordifferent player numbers) to go into Blog A. The manager can also createa Blog B that highlights goal-shooting scenes by Team Arsenal. Blog Bcan include images, video clips taken at different games, comments madeby the users, and designs selected or made for the group of content.

In some embodiments, the share-site module 140 allows the manager 111 todefine the degree of privacy in the distribution and sharing for eachBlog. For example, the manager 111 can define Blog A to be viewable byall and only the Arsenal members (i.e. user 1-user 30) at a userinterface 600 shown in FIG. 6. Blog B can be made public to all users onthe Internet. Blog C can be made viewable to only a subgroup (e.g. users1-10) of the Arsenal members.

Once a Blog is created, the share-site module 140 creates a securenetwork token for the Blog to allow the Blog to be shared over acomputer network. The token for the Blog can be a persistent key, whichprovides a consistent and reliable way for users (viewers, contributors,or manager) to set up communications with the share-site managementsystem 110 using the respective user tokens (authenticated by the userauthentication module 132, as described above).

To view a Blog, a viewer 113 operates a device to contact theapplication authentication module 131 identifying the user token and thetoken of the Blog that the viewer intends to view. The applicationauthentication module 131 authenticates each form of applications 120.The user authentication module 132 authenticates the user token. Theuser access control module 133 authenticates the role of the viewer(viewing, contributing, editing etc.). Afterwards, the content in theBlog is presented to the viewer 113 according to the user's role (in theshare-site group and specific to the Blog) defined in the user accesscontrol module 133.

Different users can access the Blog using their respective authenticatedtokens from different applications. For example, a manager can use atable device or a smart phone to access the share-site management system110 to manage the content sharing in the user group for the share site.The manager can view content in the Blog using a web browser on apersonal computer. Since the token for the Blog is persistent, themanager can access, view, or manage the share-site management system 110using his user token regardless the application format or platform ofhis device.

Each communication session can time out, for example, in one day or twodays. The user tokens and the Blog tokens are persistent, which allowsflexibility for the users to access the share-site management system 110at different times and using many different methods at the convenienceto the users.

In accordance with the present invention, the behaviors of the emailspammers were carefully analyzed for developing intelligence for spamprevention. The authentication module 130 further includes a spamcontrol module 134 in communication with the spam intelligence module135.

The spam intelligence module 135 stores one or more rules foridentifying potential spam emails based on the spam behaviors, that is,spam detection rule(s) 136. Examples of the spam detection rule(s) 136,as described in more detail below, include a detection of email messagesof substantially identical content, a determination about if thoseemails are sent by different share-site owners, and a determination ofthe number of those emails. The spam intelligence module 135 also storesone or more false alarm reduction rules 137 for reducing false alarmsamong the identified potential spam emails under the spam detectionrule(s) 136. Examples of the false alarm reduction rules 137, asdescribed in more detail below, include checking if the share-siteowners of the potential spam emails have used the products and servicesof the share-site providers. The spam intelligence module 135 alsostores logic in determining the most probably spam emails. The spamcontrol module 134 is configured to prohibit the distribution of emailsfrom certain share-site manager 111 if the behavior of the manager 111or his email content fit the criteria defined by the rules 136, 137 andlogic 138 in the spam intelligence module 135.

One common pattern discovered in the spamming emails is that they tendto comprise substantially the same content. The spammer often use copyand paste and to send the same messages to many users. Referring toFIGS. 2 and 7, the spam intelligence module 135 stores one or more spamdetection rule(s) 136 to identify potential spam emails based on spambehaviors (step 710). The spam intelligence module 135 also stores oneor more spam false alarm reduction rules 137 for reducing false alarmsin the potential spam emails (step 710).

First, potential spam emails are automatically detected (step 715). Inone implementation, the spam detection rule(s) 136 can guide spamintelligence module 135 to detect email messages of substantiallyidentical content (step 720). This analysis can be applied to emailssent in a certain period (e.g. 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 yearetc.). The network-based computer system 100 often uses multiple servers160 (FIG. 1) to send email messages from the owners of share sites.Emails from even one share-site owner are sometimes sent out overdifferent servers 160 (FIG. 1). To detect spam messages, the emailmessages sent out from different servers are hashed and the content ofthese emails are compared. Email messages with substantially the samecontent are identified. The email messages can be from the sameshare-site owner, or from different share-site owners because spammersoften register several free accounts and set up multiple share sites tosend the same spam emails. To provide accurate comparison, extra spaces,blank lines, paginations may be removed in the emails. Words in theemails may be properly parsed for comparison purposes. Two emails can beconsidered to be of the same content if they both contain apredetermined number of identical words in a consecutive sequence.

Moreover, it was found that two share sites are probably owned by a samespammer if the two share-sites send out identical emails (that includesmore than certain number of words). The spam detection rule(s) 136allows the spam intelligence module 135 to make one or more of thefollowing determinations. In some embodiments, if email messages ofsubstantially identical content are sent by different share-site owners,the spam intelligence module 135 determines that those emails are likelyspam emails (step 730). If the email message sent by two differentshare-site owners contains sufficient number of words (e.g. more than 10words), there is a good chance that the two share sites have been set upby a same spammer with false identities.

Another pattern of the spam messages is that spammers tend to send alarge number of the same message (because many spammers are paid for thenumber of messages they send). Therefore, the spam detection rule(s) 136can guide the spam intelligence module 135 to determine if suchpotential spam messages with the identical content are more than apredetermined number (step 740). Examples of the predetermined numbercan be 2, 4, 10, or 20, etc. A large number of spam emails were detectedwith this criterion. Limiting the maximum number of spam emails per dayfor each share-site owner, however, did not significantly reduce spamemails. The spammers tend to send maximum number of emails allowed eachday, probably from more freely set up accounts and associated sharesites.

In the current studies by the present inventor, it is found that thespam detection rule(s) 136 alone often create intolerable level (e.g.3-9%) of false alarms. Some share-site users have legitimate needs tosend a large number of identical email messages to other users. Forexample, a soccer coach may send an identical announcement email tomultiple users about an event or about new content on the share site.

Next, the behaviors of the share-site owners who sent potential spamemails are automatically detected (step 745). In some embodiments, thefalse alarm reduction rules 137 guides the spam intelligence module 135to determine if the share-site owner that sent multiple messages withidentical content has previously uploaded images or video clips tohis/her account (step 750). The image or video upload can be for sharingat the share site or for other image products or services provided bythe service provider. This criterion is based on the finding thatspammers do not use the services of the network-based computer system100 because it may expose their identities. So if the share-site ownerhas not uploaded images into his/her account before, the share-siteowner is more likely to be a spammer. Otherwise, the share-site owner isalmost certainly not a spammer.

Providers of share-sites often also provide other products and services.For example, Shutterfly, Inc. allows users to design and order a rangeof image products such as photobooks, calendars, and cards using usersown pictures. In some embodiments, the false alarm reduction rules 137can determine false alarms based on user's behaviors in product orservice ordering from the network-based computer system 100 (step 760).If the share-site owner that sent multiple messages with identicalcontent has not previously ordered image products in his/her account,the share-site owner is more likely to be a spammer (step 760). Spammersalmost never reveal their identities by disclosing payment and addressinformation in products ordering. If the share-site owner has orderedproducts previously, the spam intelligence module 135 determines thatthe share-site owner is not a spammer.

In some embodiments, the false alarm reduction rules 137 can determinefalse alarms based on whether personal data, relationship data, ordevice data has been stored by a share-site owner at the network-basedcomputer system 100 (step 765). Personal data can include a person'saccount information on social networks, shopping sites, or paymentservices such as Facebook™, Amazon™, Twitter™, PayPal™, Visa™, etc.Relationship data can include definitions of relationships of a user'scontacts in his/her share sites: parents, spouse, children, sister, andbrother, etc. Device data can include the phone number of a mobiledevice on which a mobile application (provided by the network-basedcomputer system 100) has been installed. Because spammers make money bymaximizing spam emails set in a given time period, they do not have timeto store fake personal, relationship, or device information. The storageof such information may increase the chance of exposing theiridentities. On the other hand, if personal data, relationship data,and/or device data of a share-site owner has been stored by a share-siteowner at the network-based computer system 100, the spam intelligencemodule 135 determines that the share-site owner is not a spammer.

If a share-site owner has uploaded images or videos or ordered productsin his/her account (as discussed in connection with steps 750-765), thecorresponding potential emails are identified as false alarm emails(step 770). The spam intelligence module 135 determines that thecorresponding share-site owner who sent the emails are not spammersbecause spammers always want to remain anonymous (step 770). Theshare-site owner will continue to be allowed from his/her share site.Because of steps 750-765, false positives are significantly reduced. Thefalse alarms are then removed from the potential spam emails to producea list of spam emails (step 780) by the spam control module 134 (FIG.2). The share-site owners who sent the identical messages are determinedto be spammers, and will disallowed from sending email messages fromtheir share site(s) (step 790) by the spam control module 134 (FIG. 2).Optionally, his/her account may be suspended. In one implementationexample, the described method had reduced spam emails from 30% to 1%,while having minimal false positives in the allowed messages from theshare sties.

It should be noted that once the spam detection rule(s) 136 and thefalse alarm reduction rules 137 are set up, the detection of potentialemails and the removal of false alarms can be performed automatically byvarious components of the network-based computer system 100.

In some embodiments, the spam indication and false alarm reduction canbe quantitatively modified according to the logic 138 stored in the spamintelligence module 135 (FIG. 2). For example, the logic 138 canquantitatively define the degree of sameness between potential spamemails (as in step 720). The logic 138 can also define the minimumthreshold number of emails that have substantially identical content tobe considered as potential spam emails (as in step 740). The logic 138can further define the types of user behaviors to be checked to reducefalse alarms (as in steps 750-765).

It should also be noted that the detailed configurations and steps candiffer from the examples described above without deviating from thespirit of the present invention. For example, the modules and componentsin the network-based computer system 100 can exist in differentconfigurations. The sequence of spam detection rules and the falsepositive reduction rules may be changed while achieving the intendedresults. False positive reduction can be based on other products andservices provided by the share-site provider than the examples usedabove.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for preventing spamemails from share sites, comprising: hosting share sites by anetwork-based computer system to allow users to send emails comprisingphotos or video clips via the share sites; detecting potential spamemails among the emails sent by the users based on one or more spamdetection rules by the network-based computer system; automaticallydetecting, by the network-based computer system, behaviors of one ormore senders of the potential spam emails at the share sites,comprising: determining whether the one or more senders of the potentialspam emails have stored personal data, relationship data, or device dataat the network-based computer system, or whether the one or more sendersof the potential spam emails have ordered the at least one product orservice from the network-based computer system, or whether the one ormore senders of the potential spam emails have uploaded at least oneimage or video clip to the network-based computer system; identifyingfalse positive emails in the potential spam emails based on one or morefalse alarm reduction rules and the behaviors of the one or more sendersof the potential spam emails at the share site; removing false positiveemails from the potential spam emails to produce a list of verified spamemails; identifying a first sender of the list of verified spam emailsas a spammer; and prohibiting the spammer from sending emails from theshare sites by the network-based computer system.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the step of detectingpotential spam emails based on the one or more spam detection rulescomprises: detecting emails having substantially identical content. 3.The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the step ofdetecting potential spam emails based on the one or more spam detectionrules further comprise: determining whether substantially identicalcontent in the emails contain more than a predetermined number of words.4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the step ofdetecting potential spam emails based on the one or more spam detectionrules further comprise: determining, by the network-based computersystem, whether the emails having substantially identical content aresent from different share sites.
 5. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 2, wherein the step of detecting potential spam emails based onthe one or more spam detection rules further comprise: determiningwhether the emails having substantially identical content exceed apredetermined number.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 2,wherein the network-based computer system includes a plurality ofservers, wherein the step of detecting potential spam emails based onthe one or more spam detection rules further comprise: detecting emailshaving substantially identical content at two or more of the pluralityof servers.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: assigning emails of a second sender as false positive emailsif the one or more senders of the potential spam emails have storedpersonal data, relationship data, or device data at the network-basedcomputer system.
 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: assigning emails of a second sender as false positive emailsif the second sender has ordered products or services from thenetwork-based computer system.
 9. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, further comprising: determining a second sender to be not aspammer if the second sender has uploaded images to the network-basedcomputer system; and assigning emails sent by the second sender as falsepositive emails.
 10. The network-based computer system of claim 1,wherein the network-based computer system is configured to enable usersthat are not spammers to publish the content at the share sites and tosend emails from the share sites.
 11. A network-based computer systemfor facilitating share sites, comprising: one or more servers comprisingcomputer processors configured to host share sites to allow users tosend emails comprising photos or video clips via the share sites,wherein the one or more servers are configured to detect potential spamemails among the emails sent by the users based on the one or more spamdetection rules, wherein the one or more servers are configured toautomatically detect behaviors of one or more senders of the potentialspam emails at the share sites, and to identify false positive emails inthe potential spam emails based on the one or more false alarm reductionrules, wherein the behaviors of the one or more senders of the potentialspam emails at the share sites include: whether the one or more sendersof the potential spam emails have stored personal data, relationshipdata, or device data at the network-based computer system, or whetherthe one or more senders of the potential spam emails have ordered the atleast one product or service from the network-based computer system, orwhether the one or more senders of the potential spam emails haveuploaded at least one image or video clip to the network-based computersystem, wherein the one or more servers are configured to remove thefalse positive emails from the potential spam emails to produce a listof verified spam emails, and to identify a first sender of the list ofverified spam emails as a spammer and to prohibit the spammer fromsending emails from one or more share sites.
 12. The network-basedcomputer system of claim 11, wherein the one or more servers detectemails having substantially identical content to detect potential spamemails.
 13. The network-based computer system of claim 12, wherein theone or more servers detect potential spam emails by determining whetherthe substantially identical content in the emails contain more apredetermined number of words.
 14. The network-based computer system ofclaim 12, wherein the one or more servers detect potential spam emailsby determining whether the emails having substantially identical contentare sent from different share sites.
 15. The network-based computersystem of claim 12, wherein the one or more servers detect potentialspam emails by determining whether the emails having substantiallyidentical content exceed a predetermined number.
 16. The network-basedcomputer system of claim 12, wherein the one or more servers detectpotential spam emails by detecting emails having substantially identicalcontent at two or more of the servers.
 17. The network-based computersystem of claim 11, wherein the one or more servers are configured todetermine a second sender to be not a spammer if the second sender havestored personal data, relationship data, or device data at thenetwork-based computer system.
 18. The network-based computer system ofclaim 11, wherein the one or more servers are configured to determine asecond sender to be not a spammer if the second sender has orderedproducts or services from the network-based computer system at thenetwork-based computer system.
 19. The network-based computer system ofclaim 11, wherein the one or more servers are configured to assignemails of a second sender as false positive emails if the second senderhas uploaded at least one image or video clip to the network-basedcomputer system.
 20. The network-based computer system of claim 11,wherein the one or more servers are configured to enable users that arenot spammers to publish the content at the share sites and to sendemails from the share sites.